Whisper 'Kiss Her'
by The Not-So It Girl
Summary: When Merlin is being attacked by a Mare, and Arthur and the Knights have to go inside of his head, what surprising things will they learn about their friend? Warning: Angst, and a bit of Freylin.


Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, much to my displeasure. If I did it would still be going.

Author's Note: Hey guys! I watched Merlin and now am completely obsessed. Seriously, I think I like him as much as I like Sam Winchester. If you know me at all, that should scare you. Anyway, just so you know, most of the lore I put into this is made up, though the Mare is a legit mythological creature. This is set after Season 3, before Season 4. Also, it'll be a two-shot. Anyways. On with the story!

It was a cold night in Camelot, and Merlin was late. Again.. The newly crowned king had come down to the phycisian's place to fetch Merlin, as they were supposed to be leaving for a hunting trip that evening. However, when Arthur got there, Gauis was pacing around worriedly.

"Gauis, where's Merlin? We're supposed to be leaving, the bloody idiot!"

"I'm sorry sire, I don't believe Merlin will be able to make it. He...he won't wake up."

Arthur snorted at that for a moment, and then went for Merlin's door. "Of course he won't, the lazy bum," the man said as he threw the small framed door open.

"Sire, I wouldn't do that if I-"

But it was too late. Arthur had opened the door and could see Merlin thrashing about the bed, struggling to breathe.

"What's wrong with him, Gauis?"asked Arthur with slight horror painted onto his face.

"I'm not sure,"the old man responded. "I do have a theory, however. I fear we may have a Mare on our hands.

"Oh, no. That's.. awful?"

"You have no idea what a Mare is, do you?"

"None at all."

"A Mare, Sire," Gauis started, thumping a huge book onto the wooden table, "is what was thought to be a mythological creature."

"I don't understand- if it's a myth, why do you think this is the creature we are searching for?"

"Well, he certainly has all the symptoms that are listed in this book. Restless sleep, ragged breathing due to it's sitting on your chest..."

"But there wasn't anything ON his chest, Gauis," Arthur said, becoming a bit exasperated. He would never admit it, especially to the likes of Merlin, but he was growing very concerned about his friend.

"Not that we could see, sire,"Gauis said, raising his eyebrows to hint something.

"An invisible magical being. Wonderful. Exactly what we needed. What the bloody hell does this thing even do?"

"If I'm correct, sire, it induces nightmares so that you get lost in them, slowly dying from insanity from all the emotional pain.. It seems, my lord, that the only solution is by the use of magic." A stale, awkward, silent moment fell here. "If we were to take this course of action, I'd need to prepare a potion that allows a person to enter another person's dreams, and I'd pull him out."

For several minutes, they let a silence pass, with Arthur thinking, and Gauis watching him.

"...We can't lose Merlin. I will permit the useage of magic in this instance, but Gauis, I'm going." At this, the white-haired man's eyes widened. He very much feared what would happen if Merlin had a nightmare about magic.

"Arthur, I don't believe that's a good idea. To enter one's mind is very dangerous; I should be the one to go, I'm just-"

"Gauis, we NEED someone out here, who knows what to do if something goes wrong. I'll bring some of the Knights; that way I'll have back- up. Alright?"

The old man hung his head, then looked up for a moment and gave a nod of his head. Desperately, he hoped Merlin wouldn't dream of anything of too much import. Alas, there are some dreams that are not meant to be.

Arthur gathered Leon, Gwaine, Lancelot, Elyan, Percival, and himself, and they were standing at the foot of Merlin's bed. Gauis quickly brought in a knarly looking brown potion in small cups, which they each downed with grimaces and hiccups.

"Nothing's happening," Elyan said after a couple of moments. Right after he said that, his eyes began to droop and fell to his knees, unconscious, quickly followed by the others.

When they woke, they were in a completely different place than Gauis' chambers. It seemed like total blackness, except they could see each other, and feel solid ground beneath their feet. It tooks several moments to recover the memories of what they were doing.

"Alright, so, we're in Merlin's dreams now, so we just have to try and find him, right?" Leon said, a bit disoriented, and glancing around at his fellow knights.

It was Arthur who answered. "Indeed. But I fear we have no idea where to find him." Just as soon as he said this, a flash of light overtook them, and they were suddenly in a field , full of tiny wildflowers, a creek, and kids all around. As the knights all turned about, looking for their friend, it was Gwaine who pointed to a child with floppy brown hair, sitting all by himself, tying flowers together. They carefully made their way over to him, all clearly staring at him, but he showed no sign of looking up. He looked so...lonely.

It was Percival who spoke first. "Merlin?" The child looked up, big blue eyes already wary.

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

"Well,"Arthur stepped in. "We're the good guys.''

"What if you're not?"

Arthur wasn't quite sure how to respond to this; apparently, even in his younger days, Merlin was set on arguing with him. "Well, we are." At this Merlin turned away from them once more.

"Leave me alone. "

"Merlin-"

"Go away.'' Merlin was shaking now, and Gwaine tried to reach down to him, but that's when things got really messy and he started shouting.

"Leave me alone!" It was then that they realized he wasn't shouting at them, but the kids that were now surrounding him, calling out to him, with mean names and smirking faces.

"Freak." "No one wants you here!" "Just runaway already!"

There were tears tracking down the young boy's face now, Gwaine reached down to him, wanting to comfort his friend, but as soon as he did the scene faded and again they were in total darkness.

Suddenly, a road appeared before them, and Gwaine hissed into the wind.

"Where the bloody hell are we now?!" Gwaine said, aggravated he was pulled away from his distressed friend.

"Sh."Arthur held his finger up to his mouth, quieting the knight. "Listen to that. We're not to far away from-from Camelot."

"So, this is when he first arrived to Camelot. But..why would that be a nightmare?"Lancelot scrunched his eyebrows, concerned.

" A nightmare doesn't necessarily have to be creepy,"Elyan cut in. "Just something that scares you, if even only subconsciously. He was going to a new place, he didn't know if he'd make any friends, and plus, you know, Merlin is kind of.._different_. It's probably kind of hard for him to make real good friends."

"Well, let's go find out if that's right,"Arthur proposed, pointing toward flames they could see in the distance, meaning Merlin had set up camp for the night. They approached him quietly, so as not to scare him. However, when they got to him, they saw something...bewildering.

There were sparks, dancing all around, creating the most beautiful pictures...but something wasn't right. It was, it was magic! They turned all around to see where the sorcerer was, but they could find no such person. They turned back to Merlin, confused, as he didn't look the least bit surprised.

"It's Merlin," Elyan whispered. "It's _**Merlin."**_

"What? No, no of course it's not. Couldn't be,"Lancelot said, gulping audibly. However, no one payed him attention, all too busy being wrapped up in the absurdity of the situation. Percival was surprised, his eyebrows raised. Gwaine just chuckled a bit, shaking his head. Elyan's mouth was in a perfect O. Lancelot glanced around, guiltily. But Arthur? There was nothing, nothing on his face, but complete and total shock. Gwaine chuckled again, and finally Merlin heard them.

"W-Who is that? Who's there?" When there was no answer, Merlin quickly called, sounding scared, "I have a sword, and I'm not afraid to use it!"

With that, Lancelot was the first to speak, holding his hands up to suggest a peaceful encounter was desired. "Merlin, we're not going to hurt you; we're here to help."

Arthur shook his head and got out of his funk long enough to mutter, "Is that so?" but, he shut up when Gwaine elbowed him in the ribs. "You can't elbow the king," he hissed.

"Watch me."

Merlin payed them no mind, but spoke to Lancelot, concernedly. "How do you know my name?"

"We're friends,"Percival chimed in, drawling out his words slowly and carefully.

"I've never met ANY of you before," Merlin shook his head in disbelief.

"Not yet,"Gwaine said.

"Listen, uh, Merlin..you're dreaming. And, basically, if you don't wake up, you're gonna die,"Arthur said.

"Listen, I don't know who the hell you are, but my mother wants me in Camelot, and that's where I'm going,"Merlin started hurrying away.

"Merlin, wait!"Arthur grabbed onto his shoulder and was flung into the next dream, with the rest of the gang. His hand was still resting on Merlin's shoulder, and he saw Merlin kneeling, facing a girl. She looked a bit...wild, to be honest. Not unpleasant, just like she'd been through a lot. But one look at Merlin's face was enough to tell he adored the ground she walked on.

"Merlin.."Lancelot hesitated, before deciding to just go for it. "Is this her?"

The boy nodded absentmindedly, never taking his eyes of the brunette girl. He reached out, stroking her hair lovingly.

"Who is this?" Gwaine asked quietly. And when Gwaine was quiet, well, you knew it was serious business.

"Freya," Merlin spoke softly, for the first and only time in this dream. "I miss her."

Lancelot sighed. "I know you do, Merlin. I know, but, you can't just stay here forever."

"Why not?" this time his head snapped toward Lancelot, and fiery words were coming out of his mouth. "None of you need me, not..really. I'm _tired, _Lancelot."

" Of what?"Percival spoke this time.

It only took Merlin a heartbeat. "Everything. I'm tired of everything, I'm done with everything, I can't do it anymore. I've tried to be strong for as long as I possibly could, but you know what? I'm done, "with that Merlin turned away, and his friends could see his whole body shaking. Arthur realized his hand was still on his friend's_ (friend? sorcerer? coward? bravest man he ever knew? he wasn't sure anymore.) _shoulder, and decided it was his turn to speak.

"Merlin,"he said, a bit loudly. "How could you be such a complete _idiot._ To be honest, I don't even understand half of what you said, but what I do know is that everyone in this room needs you. Who'll pick Gwaine up from bars when he's about to get in a load of trouble, besides you? I certainly won't."

"Hey!"

"Shut up. And, who would Lancelot talk to? I swear, you to are inseperable. Who'll defend Elyan when we're all picking on him, huh? Who'll spot Percival when he's excerising even though he's like, 232 pounds of pure muscle?

And there others, too. Not just in this room. What about Gauis? Gwen? That young servant girl you help collect wood on Sundays. What about me?"

Through all of this, Merlin had stopped shaking, and was facing the girl-_Freya_- again. They could all see his face now, covered in tear tracks as he whispered,

"_She needed me."_ As he said this, her dress tore from nothing in particular, and suddenly, blood was gushing out of her body.

"It's time to say goodbye, Merlin,"Lancelot said. "Do you know how?" Merlin nodded, wiped his eyes on his tunic sleeve, and leaned into the girl, pressing their foreheads together.

"Goodbye, Freya," he said, before he touched his lips to hers. And then it was black.

When they woke, Merlin was sobbing on the bed, and he seemed inconsolable. Gauis looked worried, and was rubbing soothing circles on his back. Just as Arthur was about to say something, Guinevere came running in, hair wild, with her tunic a bit torn.

"I just heard something was wrong with Merlin," she panted. "Where-" but she suddenly saw him on the bed, crying his eyes out. Unlike the rest of them, who had been alarmed by Merlin's fit of tears, Guinevere reacted perfectly calmly. She went to his bed, pulled him into a hug, and assured him everything would be fine, just fine.


End file.
